MIAM

Sunday, 27 December 2009

Hope you all had a great Christmas, did you all get lots of crafting goodies? I was very lucky indeed to receive a craft light, papermania papers, cardstock, embellies and £30 voucher for The Craft Barn.

Here is a wallet which I made for my nephew as part of his xmas present. The instructions for this wallet are linked to Stamping Mathilda's blog, so thanks to Godelieve for sharing this and apologies for still not being able to do a link! (must make it my new years resolution)

This was a really quick and easy project and a lovely way to present a cash gift, much nicer than shoving a tenner in an envelope.

Tuesday, 22 December 2009

This card must be one of the quickest I have ever made, I was racing against the light as I wanted to photo it before it got dark. It is my entry for Colour Create challenge 34, where the theme is Pink, Burgundy and Ivory with the option of Roses.

I used a PaperArtsy swirl stamp around the edge of some pink card and inked with the same maroon ink pad. The main image was a rose stamp from Inkadinkadoo which I stamped three times on ivory coloured card and cut out using a circle nestie. The roses were coloured using inks from my stash using the ink pad on tile method. Another circle of burgundy card was cut using the same nestie and I cut about two thirds off and stuck it on the bottom of the ivory circle. Some cream organza ribbon was added together with a bow and a tag.

I can see now that the ribbon has slipped somewhat .....that's what happens when you are in a rush and use a tape pen 'cos you don't have time for glue to stick.

Sunday, 20 December 2009

Hello Folks,Thought I'd show you my very last christmas card which I have made for my parents, who are affectionately known as 'The Oldies'. The base card is a lovely olive green Bazzil, the cream card is from my stash and I have used the mistletoe stamp from the Joie de Noel set by Christine Dark. I stamped using sage and leaf green ink by Ancient Page. The star stamp (also in the same set) was embossed with gold E.P. and then layered onto gold mirri board and then layered again onto star shaped acetate. I glittered all around the border of the star with gold glitter strips.

I'm afraid the photography isn't up to much as I usually take my snaps in the conservatory at this time of year as the light is better in there, but at the moment the roof is covered in snow and it's too dark, so the kitchen table had to suffice.

It's a pity the light was so poor as I am quite pleased with this card and looks so much better IRL.

Well, I'd better shake a leg as the whole family is off to panto this afternoon-OH YES WE ARE!, and no doubt I'll be enjoying a glass or two of vino at the bar first.

Friday, 18 December 2009

Hello there,Greetings from snowy Sussex, we must have had about 4 inches of snow here and I must say it looks very pretty. My cat doesn't like it all tho', she hasn't been out for a wee all day!I've now finished the Ready Steady Stamp Christmas Banner, the final piece was completed last night and here it is.This one is fairly self explanatory. The picture of Father Christmas was one I printed from the computer, the torn backing paper is from my stash and the scrolled music sheets were torn out of a very old book of piano music. I also randomly stamped a music score on the red base card and embossed this with gold E.P. The final additions were the pearls and bell.

Above is a 5th piece that I decided to make a few weeks ago, (even tho' the challenge only required 4 pieces) I seem to have a bit of a mish-mash of styles going on in this banner which was not my intention when I started, but never mind hey? Here it is in its finished state.

I really enjoyed making this banner so 'Thanks' RSS for a great challenge.Thank you for looking and for all your comments.Fiona x

Sunday, 13 December 2009

Crikey, thought I'd better have a clear up of my craft room today as it was so bad I kept losing things, most annoyingly the circular mat that I shape punched flowers on. I don't know what came over me but I even sorted my clear stamps into categories (that won't last long!)Anyway this is about as tidy as my desk gets, so I thought I'd better record such a special event.

I see now that I didn't tidy my ribbon box very well and I should have hoovered before I took the photo, not after! The good news is however, that the clear up did uncover my mat. Even my cat Prue couldn't get over such a tidy space and came to have a look see!Going to carry on crafting now, I think I'm the only person in Britain who is not watching the X Factor final.Toodle-oo and thanks for dropping by.

Friday, 11 December 2009

Thought I'd post these cards that I've made recently whilst I'm waiting for the glue to dry on some xmas projects. I'm trying out a new 'pared down' look that I thought would suit my new stamps by Autumn Leaves. The sentiment stamp is by Hero Arts and it is glued onto the wooden block wonky, it's not me honest!

With this card I stamped the butterfly image several times onto pearlised paper and then painted them with mauve cosmic shimmers. (the colour in this picture is not good at all I'm afraid) I then cut them out and layered them using silicon glue and mounted them on a nestie cut and embossed circle, and added some stickles and liquid pearls. The final addition was the Prima flower and sentiment as above which I managed to stamp straight this time.

I used up some odds and ends of ribbon and paper for these cards. The butterfly, which has been decoupaged as before and the flower stamp (inkadinkado) were also painted with cosmic shimmer.Apologies for poor photography, light bad again today. That's my excuse anyway. (Click on the photo for a bit more detail)Thanks for looking.

Fiona x

PS Does anyone else have a cat trying to walk across their keyboard when posting?

Tuesday, 8 December 2009

This is my entry for the Crafty Calendar Challenge this month where the theme is 'winter sparkle'. I didn't want to make a christmas card so tried to do something simple and different but now I think this looks a bit funereal! There is quite a lot of sparkle on this card but as usual the photo does not do it justice. I have just bought the cuttlebug Tiny Tags set and am busy putting tags on anything I make now!

Sunday, 6 December 2009

Hello again,Here are the 'ingredients' for the 3rd piece of the Ready Steady Stamp challenge. When all the pieces are put together at the end of the challenge just before christmas it will form a banner.Here is my latest effort. I know it's a shocking photo, but the weather has been so grim and it's so difficult to get good light.I put the bottom white layer through the cuttlebug in the 'swirls' folder and then gave it a light swipe over with distress ink on cut'n'dry. For the red top layer I gold embossed all around the edges of the triangle and stamped my new swirl stamp randomly and embossed that too with gold E.P. Next I stamped a very old bauble stamp by Rubber Stampede, also in gold E.P. and gave it the glitter treatment. I cut this out and mounted it on the red layer using sticky fixers and stuck a border peel-off behind it so it looked like it was dangling, and then tied a bow in gold cord and stuck it to the top of the bauble. Finally I added a layer of organza ribbon to the top of the triangle, which I heated with the heat gun to make it go a little bit curly and then I pleated it and added a few sequins.Thanks for looking.Fiona x

Friday, 27 November 2009

I've been looking forward to this next challenge of RSS as it is the second piece of the Christmas Banner. Wasn't sure what Kraft paper was, and I don't think I was the only one but it turns out that it's just plain old brown paper! The cut n' dry stamping was a new technique to me and although it was fairly successful I'm not sure I would try it again. I pressed some buttons into the foam on the back like this..

and stamped onto white card using T.H. Antique Linen distress Ink. The edges of the pennant were inked using Walnut Stain. Then I punched some eyelets near the top, threaded some raffia through, tied it and added a button. Next, I tore some strips of brown paper and edged them with gold E.P. Finally I stamped a christmas tree from Christine Dark's Joie de Noel set in a sage colour, cut it out and mounted it on dimension tape. I kept this pennant quite simple purposely, I don't like my creations to look too busy and also I don't know what the next two challenges hold in store.Keep warm and thanks for looking.Fiona x

Monday, 23 November 2009

This is a project I have been working on for a few weeks. It was a bit 'trial and error' as it's the first one I have done but I was quite pleased with the results. It was made as a gift for my Auntie and Uncle's Ruby Wedding Anniversary which was yesterday. I was a bridesmaid at their wedding all those years ago.Andy and Pete had a great party to celebrate yesterday and there lots of ribald jokes about married bliss and give and take, etc. We had a superb 3 course meal accompanied by loads of booze.

The book is one I bought in a charity shop and the pages were covered with papers (BG I think) and I added embellishments and rub-ons along the way, together with the photo's. I gave it a distressed look by sanding the edges of the book and photo's and inking the edges of the pages. The spine was made with grunge paper which I painted with a mix of acrylic paint and H20's. Finally I made a presentation box on my score board and added a nice red bow.Hope you like it.Fiona x

Saturday, 21 November 2009

Hello Folks,I've been absent from Blogland for a couple of weeks, what with one thing and another life has been a bit full-on lately. Also I've been trying to get on with my xmas cards but still have 20 to do. Hopefully I can do some more tonight.Anyway, this is my latest creation which I will enter into The Colour Create Challenge which has a theme of red, white and green.The Holly stamp on the inside of the card is by Stampendous and I coloured the image with watercolour pencils and 'stickled' the berries. Half of the front of the card was cut off and I covered this with paper from the 'Seasons Greetings' cd by Artylicious, and edged one side with the red polka dot ribbon. Next I matted and layered two ovals which were cut and embossed on the 'bug and did some faux stitching on the white one. (not a patch on Christine Dark's stitching tho') Then I added a poinsettia which I embossed with a brass stencil and light box, I'd almost forgotten I had these items so it was nice to use them again. I drew some veins on the leaves with a quickie glue pen and sprinkled on some crystal glitter for a frosty effect and popped a blingy brad in the centre. The final touch was a sentiment mounted on some red card.Thanks for looking.Fiona x

Monday, 9 November 2009

Here are my niece and nephew Emily and Eddie, who came around yesterday to do some crafting with me. There were a few interruptions for CBBC and lots of 'skids' on my laminate floor but after a few hours two xmas presents had been made! Afterwards we all went to nan's for a lovely roast dinner.Bye for now,Fiona. x

Sunday, 8 November 2009

Hello All,The latest Ready Steady Stamp challenge is slightly different. Over the next few weeks they want you you make a Christmas Banner. The current challenge is the first piece of the banner (like bunting) and here are the 'ingredients'.

You can choose your own colours but must keep to them throughout the weeks ahead. I used Christine Dark's Joie de Noel stamps which I bought yesterday at The Craft Barn. This set includes a star and swirly mistletoe which I used for this project. I also used a script stamp from Hero Arts. The large star and mistletoe were heat embossed and some glitter added to the mistletoe. Finally a few punched stars and a bell, et voila!

Unfortunately the photo is not one of my best as it's very grey today. Thanks for looking. BFN.Fiona x

Wednesday, 28 October 2009

This is my entry for the Colour Create Challenge No.30. The theme this time is ALL WHITE, with colour allowed only on the image.I made a vellum wrap for my card which was punched down one side with my MS doily punch. I then attached a panel embossed with a cuttlebug folder which was 'stardust stickled' around the edges. Next I layered on a white pearlised oval, cut and embossed on the c'bug. The lady image (very haughty looking, I think) is from The Artistic Stamper, and she was stamped and heat embossed before I water coloured her with pencils. I decided to keep her dress white so the detail would show and added more stickles. A few Woodware punched leaves and flowers were added to the outside of the oval. Finally, I tied a satin ribbon down the side. Thanks for popping by.Fiona x

Monday, 26 October 2009

I made this card for my niece Emily who was ten yesterday. The template was given to me a while back by my friend Eunice. Very simply I just cut around it and stamped this lovely design over the pink cardstock. For the handle I used a faux stitching technique which Chris (Sketching Stamper) very kindly shared with me recently. To finish, the black ribbon and 'charm' were added. Hope you like it.Thanks for looking.Fiona x

Friday, 23 October 2009

This is my entry for the Ready Steady Stamp Challenge No.8. The 'ingredients' this time were:-1. Lilac, Black and Silver2. Snowflakes3. Crackle4. A skinny (2" x 4")5. The letter CNot sure I made the correct use of the skinny as I hadn't heard of this before but hey-ho. All cardstock was from my stash and the letter C was cut out using my Eazi template and stamped with an ancient PSX stamp. After this I covered it with Versamark and clear E.P. and embossed the entire letter. I repeated this process about 8 times as I don't have UTEE. It then went in the freezer for a while, once removed I cracked the embossing in several places. I first saw this technique in a magazine, but have never tried it until now.The beautiful lady is an image from a Debbi Moore cd rom and the skinny was stamped with a Penny Black Music Pattern image and then embossed with silver E.P. and distressed. A few more snowflakes were stamped around the edges of the card and I added a few peel-offs. The finishing touch was a black ribbon. Hope you like it.TFL, Fiona x

Sunday, 18 October 2009

.......that I have tarted up with odds and ends from my stash. The correct term of course for this sort of work is 'Altered' and you can alter all sorts of things, as I'm finding out. I enjoy making these as you can use small pieces that are left over from other projects.I expect some of these will go to the Brownies for their stall at the village Xmas Fayre. Hope you like them.Must go now as 'Emma' is on the box soon.ttfn, Fiona x

Saturday, 17 October 2009

Hello,Almost finished decorating the spare room so time for some crafting again. The current Ready Steady Stamp Challenge is asking for the following 'ingredients' to be used.1. Cream, Brown and Ochre2. Staples3. Hessian4. Distress Inks background used on glossy card5. Autumn theme

I don't mind admitting that this card did not come easily to me, partly because I wasn't that keen on the colour combination, but I enjoyed the distress ink on glossy card technique which I had never used before. The panel on the right side of the card was made this way with Old Paper, Walnut Stain and Mustard Seed Distress Inks. Then I stamped on some leaves in a random way with a Rubber Stampede stamp and added the word October with some letters I found in an alphabet book. On the left side I stuck on a panel of hessian over which I mounted my tree image which is from Crafty Individuals. It was stamped on cream cardstock and matted onto brown Bazzill card and I used three small staples on one side. Just as it was nearly finished I smudged the ink and had to hide it with a small embelliscrap oak leaf which I coloured with the distress inks and glazed with Glossy Accents.Please excuse the changing font, I changed it before I started posting but it reverted back halfway through for some reason. Think I have mentioned before that me and computers are not compatible. Thanks for looking.Fiona x

Sunday, 11 October 2009

These are the required colours for the current Colour Create challenge. I must admit that I would never normally choose this combination of colours for a project, however it looks better than I thought it would.The optional extra is Flowers and Checks.This is a quick card as I am in the middle of decorating a bedroom and should be getting on with it and not making cards! I've got some time off work so trying to catch up with a few jobs around the house, but keep getting sidetracked by crafting.

All cardstock came from my stash. The tag was stamped in red with a Crafty Individuals stamp and the black image is by Rubber Stampede. Red card was embossed with the Script cuttlebug folder and matted behind the tag. The black panel was punched with a MS doily punch and I added a checked ribbon. The final touch was a die cut flower and sentiment by Hero Arts. Must get back to my paintbrush now.TFL, Fiona x

Tuesday, 6 October 2009

Hello,Just a quick card that will be my entry for the new Crafty Calendar Challenge. This challenge has been started by Georgia who is just 13! The theme this month is Autumn with the option of plants/vegetation.The Owl stamp is from an Inkadinkadoo set of birds and the foliage I've stamped around the image is from another stamp set but I've long since lost the packaging. I mounted it on some backing paper from my stash and layered it over a green panel that had been embossed with the cuttlebug swirls folder. I applied some green Tim Holtz ink with Cut n Dry to the embossing just to lift it a bit more. Finally I added an Embelliscrap leaf which I inked with the same T.H. ink.Unfortunately the colours in this photo are not very good, the cardstock is cream but it looks white here.Thanks for looking.Fiona xx

Monday, 5 October 2009

Made this latest card for my brother whose birthday is today. I saw this fold on Create & Craft and wrote all the instructions down, however it took me a few attempts before I got it to lie flat so it would go in an envelope. I think this is called a 'step' card and they seem to be very popular at the moment. The cardstock as usual all came from my stash. Firstly I marked out where I had to cut/score and then cut the card. Next I randomly stamped the stop watches and compasses, these stamps came from a Clear Choice stamp set that I've had for years. Then I masked them and stamped over the entire card with a script stamp from Hero Arts. Finally I traced around some chipboard letters I have (but am too scared to use incase I need them!) and stuck the name to the folds in the card. I added an eyelet and brads to the letters before sticking them to the card to make it look slightly more masculine. Didn't have any Navy brads so used a Teal colour and went over them with a Navy permamarker!

Was quite pleased with how this turned out. Hope you like it too.Bfn, Fiona xx

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

This is my first entry in the RSS challenge. This challenge is one of the reasons I wanted to start a blog as it bans 'cute', and I don't often do cute.All the cardstock came from my stash and the swirly stamp is the same as the one used in my previous post. (Can you tell it's my current fave?) I daubed some white acrylic paint on the 'b' and the brackets and inked round the edges with pink ink. The flower comes from Prima and this I painted with Cosmic Shimmers to get a matching shade of pink. I thought the corrugated card looked a bit boring plain so I tarted it up by applying silver pigment ink directly to it and then embossed with silver E.P. and a very light touch of Stardust Stickles. The Eiffel Tower was stamped onto a sponged background which had been masked, the stamp came from a Clear Choice stamp set that is ancient-one of the first I ever bought. Not sure if I like this card as it is a bit busier than my usual stuff but this challenge has taken me outside my comfort zone. TFL. Fiona

P.S. I am having trouble with the layout of my blog. I would like to add photo's underneath the text or in the middle but it doesn't want to seem to do this. If anyone has any advice I'd be very grateful.

Monday, 28 September 2009

This is my entry for the latest Colour Create Challenge. The colours to be used are Hot Pink, Dusky Pink and Ice Chocolate with the option of Pearls and Swirls. The base card was some I found in my stash which I inked around the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. Then I stamped the swirls in two corners and added the pearls. (not sure who the stamp is by but bought in The Craft Barn) The bird image is from a set by Inkadinkadoo which I stamped onto more card from my stash with Versamark and coloured the bird with Cosmic Shimmers and the branch with chalks. This is layered onto a circle of Bazzil card which I have distressed. Lastly I added the tabs and the tiny punched flowers. Hope you like it.Fiona

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

Can't believe I've finally got a blog! When it comes to computers I'm dreadful, so I didn't think I would be able to set one up, however it wasn't too bad after all. (although I did have some technical assistance, Thanks Dad.) Thanks also go to Chris for her encouragement.

The card I'm posting was my entry in the current Colour Create Challenge. It's the first time I've ever entered a challenge. I've already been told by a member of my family that the picture is 'rubbish' and will try to improve, but David Bailey I ain't. The image was stamped with a Kadoodle 'Stepping Stones' stamp ( I cut the stepping stone off) and coloured with watercolour pencils. She was matted onto a black circle cut with nesties and embossed with CB folder. (if you double click on image you can just see the embossing) I punched some leaves with the same black and green card and inked the green ones. The sentiment is a Papermania stamp that was a freebie with a magazine, finally I added the black dotty ribbon.Would love to read any comments you may have. Thanks for lookingFiona.